


Pupaphobia

by bringmesomepie



Series: Fear Series [32]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Accidents, Aerialist Dean Winchester, Alternate Universe - Circus, Big Brother Dean, Boys In Love, Broken Bones, Circus, Circus Family, Contortion, Contortionist Sam, Declarations Of Love, Family History, Fear of Puppets, Gabe has puppets named after different angels, Gen, Hurt Dean Winchester, Love, Love Confessions, Loving Marriage, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Protective Sam Winchester, Pupaphobia, Puppets, Ring Master Castiel, Sam-Centric, Surprises, Teacher Sam, Trapeze, Truck driver John Winchester, Worried Castiel, history teacher sam, puppet master gabriel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-23 21:44:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7481163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bringmesomepie/pseuds/bringmesomepie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam wanted to something other than the circus, but a terrible accident brought Sam closer to his family he abandoned years earlier...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pupaphobia

Why did his brother, brother-in-law, and boyfriend have to work in a circus? Dean was an amazing aerialist, Castiel was the spectacular ring leader, and Gabriel was a ventriloquist. Why’d it have to be puppets?”

_“Come on, Sammy. You’ve never seen Gabriel perform as the puppet master, ever. You haven’t been to see me perform or Cas lead us. We’ll be doing a show in Lebanon tomorrow. I’ll save you a seat. Will you come?”_

“What is Gabe’s show?”

_“Little brother, you know Gabe’s show deals with…puppets.”_

“Yeah, but maybe if it was good subject matter…I might be able to sit through it…just like if the clowns don’t come up to the crowd.” Sam leaned in his chair. “Can you talk to Gabe for me?”

_“He said something about making fun of stupid normal people things. He really wants you to be there.”_

Sam sighed. “Yeah, I’ll be there. How are you, Dean?”

_“Sore. Really, trying hard on some new tricks for tomorrow. Me and Lisa having a really complex routine that if we don’t get the timing perfect things will go wrong. We have been doing it all day today and 95% of the time we don’t need the net.”_

“Dean, you know that 95% is still not 100%.” Sam scratched the back of his neck. “Keep practicing.”

_“Yeah, yeah, I know, Sammy. After this show in Lebanon we’re done for 3 months for going back on the road.”_

“Are you ever gonna take a break and start a family?” Sam played with his pencil on his desk.

_“Not yet. Cas and I have only been married six months and we’re only been doing our dream for handful of years. I don’t want to take a break from my acrobatics yet.”_

“I’ve gotta go, man. My students will be back from lunch in a few minutes.”

_“I will see you tomorrow, right?”_

“Yeah, text me the details tonight.”

_“Bye, Sammy.” Dean hung up._

_**(* &^%$#$%^&*(&^%$%^&*(** _

“So, you’re gonna see you boyfriend today?” Jess asked as Sam sat down at the kitchen table.

“Yeah, I mean I haven’t seen Gabe, Dean or Cas in 3 months.” Sam sighed.

Jess nodded. “How does Gabe feel about you and I being roommates?”

“Gabe knows that being a teacher, I don’t make a lot, so getting a roommate is completely fine. Plus, I’m gay so it’s not like I’m going to cheat. We’re just friends.” Sam shrugged as his phone rang. “Hello?”

_“Hey, Sam, there’s been a change of plans.”_

“Cas? What’s going on?”

_“uhm, like they say in show biz…the show must go on.” Cas seemed distressed._

Sam straightened up. “What’s wrong, Cas?”

_“Dean called you yesterday, right?”_

“Yeah, I was gonna head to the show in like an hour.”

_“Fuck…” Cas replied. “Gabe, you can’t go—Sam, Dean’s being rushed to the hospital.”_

“What?”

_“He was—was practicing and fell…him and Lisa fell 20 feet.”_

Sam gasped and shot up to his feet. “No, how bad is it?”

_“I don’t know. He was unconscious under Lisa. She was holding him up. They had gotten everything perfect yesterday and then they went to practice one last time and her legs slipped.”_

“Cas, Cas, calm down. Are you still gonna do the show? I will go to the hospital for Dean.”

_“Gabe, he—he is heading there as well. So we have to cancel that part of the show.”_

“Ok, stay calm, Cas. The moment the show is over…you rush over to the hospital.”

_“I hate being the Ringleader.” Cas spoke shakily. “Most of it is great, but times like this…”_

Sam grabbed his keys and rushed out of the apartment. “You gotta take a deep breath. Do you know Dean’s condition right now?”

_“Uh, uh, they think he broke ribs, his leg, an arm, and a concussion. They don’t know if there is internal bleeding. Lisa is so much better than Dean. She landed on him so she is banged up, but stable and conscious.”_

“It’s gonna be ok, Cas. Me and Gabe are gonna be there.” Sam hopped in his car.

_“Get Gabe to call me or someone to contact me if things go downhill with Dean.”_

Sam hung up and drive to Lebanon, Kansas.

_**(* &^%$#$%^&*(*&^%$#%^&*(** _

“Hi, I’m here to see my brother, Dean Novak.” Sam said when he stopped at the front desk at the hospital Dean was sent to.

“The male acrobat?” She smirked.

“Aerialist…actually.” Sam corrected.

The nurse nodded and rolled her eyes. “He is stable, but still unconscious.”

“Can I see him?”

“Not right now. He’s not out of the woods, yet, but you can see the female acrobat…aerialist, Lisa Braeden.”

Sam nodded. “Thank you.” He made his way to the room the nurse told him. He knocked on the door lightly. “Lisa?”

The dark haired woman looked up. “Sam.” She looked relieved.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Sam walked to the woman. Because Dean joined the circus at the young age of 6, Sam grew up with Lisa, Gabe, Cas and the other circus crew. John was the truck driver so he didn’t really give a rats ass that Dean performed and got paid.

“I landed mostly on Dean, but I still broke my leg and a few ribs.”

“I’m glad you are ok. I want you to know that I don’t blame you for this. With trapeze there is always this possibility. There’s always a possibility with any circus performance.” Sam explained. “Where’s Gabe? Cas said he was here.”

She nodded. “I am sorry, Sam. He went down the child’s ward to entertain while Dean was unconscious.”

“Are you ok with being here alone while I talk with Gabe?”

“I’m fine. Once the show is over…everyone is going to come down here and make sure Dean gets the treatment he needs.” Lisa wiped tears from her eyes. “I should have told Dean that I felt more comfortable with the net.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over this.” Sam pointed. “Accidents happen, you’re ok and Dean’s gonna be ok.”

“You can say that because you didn’t cost the circus money.”

“Don’t worry about that, Lis.” Sam said before walking to the children’s section.

He instantly spotted his boyfriend with the black top hat and red jacket. The Novak turned and spotted the younger Winchester, but Sam saw the dummy in his boyfriends lap. “Gabriel, who’s that strong bean?”

All the color drained from Sam’s face. “Hey-hey, Gabe.”

“Raphael, that is my adorable boyfriend.” Gabe smiled. The kids giggled. “Come on, guys, say hi to Sam.”

“Hi, Sam.” The kids smiled.

Sam waved softly. “Gabe…can you put down…Raphael?”

“What’s wrong, Sam. I don’t bite.” Raphael ‘spoke’.

“I need—need to speak with Gabriel.” Sam was starting to panic with the whole inanimate object talk.

Gabe nodded. “Kiddo’s. Me and Raph are going to go. It’s been fun. I hope y’all have a fun day.”

Sam walked out into the hallway. Gabe stepped out and held up the dummy. “Put-put away the dummy, Gabe.”

“Sorry.” Gabe set down the puppet. “Have you talked with Lisa?”

“She feels guilty.” Sam kept looking at the puppet. “Gabe, you—you really need to put away the puppet. You know—you—it…please…”

“Ok, ok, Babe, I need to go to the car to put Raph away.” The Novak raised his hands in surrender.

“Thank you.”

_**(* &^%$#$%^&*&^%$%^&*** _

Sam sat in the waiting room with Gabe at his side. Their hands were laced together. A nurse had just told them that Dean’s lung collapsed. They got it fix with a chest tube, but it meant Dean was still nowhere near out of the woods.

Cas came flying to the room still wearing his whole ring leader uniform. “Hey, hey, is he still unconscious?”

“His lung collapsed and they had to insert a chest tube to fix it, but she’s still unconscious.” Sam informed.

“Oh God, I knew Dean and Lisa shouldn’t have done that stunt. I’m the ringleader I should have said something.” Cas panicked.

“Accidents happen, Cas…you can’t blame yourself. There is always some sort of danger when dealing with any circus performance…especially when involves dangling dozens of feet off the ground like trapeze.”

“But it’s my job to make sure everything is safe. I should have told Dean and Lisa how uncomfortable I was about the stunt.” Cas paced in front of Sam and Gabe.

Sam looked up at Cas. “Do you really think you could have talked Dean out of doing that?”

“I could have gotten him to use a net.”

“Well, it happened, so let’s not talk about what could have been done to make the outcome different. Dean won’t blame anybody, he can’t even blame himself because he had to put his trust into Lisa.” Sam snapped. “Right now, I’m just worried about my brother.”

Gabe placed a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Both of you need to calm down.”

“I’m going to go talk with nurses and doctors.” Cas walked away.

“I need Dean to wake up.” Sam put his head in his hands.

“It’s gonna be ok, Sam.” Gabe reinsured.

“What if he can’t do acrobatic anymore?”

“Hey don’t think about that. How about that. How about Cas’s outfit?” Gabe smirked.

Sam laughed. “Who picked that out? I know he needs to be flashy, but that was the sparkliest I’ve seen Cas.”

“Dean picked it out. He’s been doing that this whole tour.” Gabe smiled. “I wish you would tour with us, so you could pick out my outfit and the outfits for my posse.”

“Teaching is my life, Gabe. I would love to travel with you, but I still would not be anywhere near your dummies.”

“Come on, Sammy, teaching is your fall back job. You were a great contortionist. Don’t get me started on your fire breathing and eating.”

Sam shook his head. “I haven’t done any of that stuff in a good six years.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t start again.” Gabe smiled. “Maybe if you watch my act you can see how harmless my puppets are, you might like’em.”

“Why did you have to stop being the lion tamer?” Sam sighed.

“After Kali passed away all the other lions stopped listening to me. You remember. Then I found a permanent calling, Sam. I wish you liked it.” Gabe sighed.

Cas came back from talking with people. Sam and Gabe looked up to the younger Novak. “How is he, Cas?”

They both noticed the tear stains on his face. “He’s rough.”

“Is he awake?” Gabe asked.

“He woke up for a little while. He was distressed, disoriented, and confused.” Cas mumbled.

Sam nodded. “What are the injuries?”

Cas sighed and looked up at the ceiling to soak up tears. “Uhm, broken leg, arm, neck, multiple ribs…dislocated shoulder, a compression fracture on his back and a concussion. When he woke up he freaked out and couldn’t remember the accident or my name. He doesn’t remember calling your or certain details. They said that partly was because of the concussion and partly from shock.”

“He’s gonna be ok, Cas.” Sam rose to his feet.

“He was put into a medically induced coma so he didn’t worsen his injuries.” Cas stared blankly at his brother and brother-in-law.

“Sit down, little brother. The doctor’s are doing their best.” Gabe begged. “Get your mind off this. Help me with Sam’s fear of puppets.”

Cas sat down. “It’s strange to have that kind of fear and be dating a man who deals with your fear. If you wanna support Gabe, you gotta get past that.”

“That’s hard. They-they creep me out. Watching the dummies lips move but Gabe’s don’t…Is freaky.”

“Says the man you can contort his body ways that shouldn’t be done even by infant babies and can eat/breathe fire.” Cas scoffed.

“If Dean’s accident hadn’t happened I would have watched Gabe’s performance. That was gonna be a big step for me.”

Gabe raised an eyebrow. “I think today was also a big step for you. You barely freaked out when you saw Raphael in my lap and politely asked me to put him away. Last time you saw my puppets you flipped the fuck out and refused to watch my shows.”

“I’m trying, Gabe, really.” Sam sighed. “One step at the time, right?”

_**(* &^%$%^&*()*&^%$^&*(** _

Dean was in a coma for 2 weeks. Both Novaks and the Winchester were at Dean’s bedside when he started stirring awake.

Doctors said that the swelling in Dean’s brain had gone down. All his fractures were healing nicely. They don’t know about his spine or neck, but he is out of the woods.

It took 4-5 times for Dean to open his eyes and actually keep them open. Cas took Dean’s non-broken hand in his own. “Hey, Baby.”

“Cas?” Dean mumbled softly.

“Hey Sweetheart.”

“Tired.”

“You’ve been asleep for 14 almost 15 days, Honey.” Cas ran his fingers through Dean’s hair.

Dean was pretty out of it for the next few days then when the doctors found the extent of the injuries in his neck and back. He was in so much pain. They put him on morphine, but it just meant he was in the hospital longer.

The day Lisa got released and changed to crutches from the wheelchair she came to visit Dean. Just like Sam said Dean didn’t blame anybody. Every days a few of the circus members came and talked with him.

Today was not a good day. They were weening Dean off the morphine. “Angel, please. Talk to my doctor. I need something.”

“I can ask, but you’re not gonna like the answer.” Cas frowned.

“Please, my neck and back—please?” Dean said near tears.

Sam entered the room as Cas exited. “Hey man, not a good day?”

“No…” Dean groaned.

“Come on, Dean. Little ol’ Lisa fell on you. This isn’t the first time you’ve fallen.” Sam joked.

Dean laughed softly, but winced from the rib fractures. “Have you seen Gabe’s new puppets?” Anna, Lucifer, Balthazar, and Samandriel?”

“No, probably won’t.”

“Plucky Pennywhistle didn’t give you the fear of puppets like the clown thing did.”

“They freak me out, but I’m trying.”

“Not while staying in Lawrence as a fucking history teacher.” Dean said dryly.

“I like teaching, Dean.”

“And I like cooking, but being an aerialist is my life.” Dean would have shrugged if he wasn’t in so much pain. “Show me that you are still a contortionist, Sammy.”

Sam sighed. “I’ve gotten rusty, man. It’s been 6-ish years.”

“Dude, you could suck your own dick if you wanted.” Dean chuckled then winced again.

“I’ve never done that. I swear.” Sam laughed as he rolled his joints. He touched his toes. “Ok, here you go.”

Sam did a back bend and swooped down and lifted his feet onto his shoulders. “I still got it, man.”

“I absolutely love these past few weeks. Circus people are awesome.” Nurse Blake smiled.

“Oh, sorry.” Sam untangled himself. “I’m not in the circus anymore.”

“With those bends you should quit your day job and do this.” She smiled. “Dean, your husband begged me to give you a little something to ease your pain.”

“Thank you.” Dean sighed.

_***( &^%$#%^&*()*&^%$^&*()** _

**_6 Months Later…_ **

“Ok, guys, I’ve been thinking and today I want to talk to you about the history of the circus.”

The students were confused. One girl raised her hand. “Mr. Winchester, why do you suddenly wanna teach us about something that is not important?”

“It’s extremely important to me. One fact you know about your teacher.” Sam pointed to himself and smiled. “I used to be a circus performer.”

The class gasped and it made all of them pay more attention. Sam smirked as a boy raised his hand. “What did you do?”

“I, mainly, did contortion or fire eating/breathing. By the end of my career I was also dabbling in aerial contortion, knife throwing and acrobatics with my brother.”

“Can you show us something?” Another boy called out.

Sam cleared his throat. “Fine.” The Winchester slipped off his shoes and untucked his shirt for more give. Sam bent completely backwards without bending his knees. He wrapped his arms around his knees. His head poked his head out from under his crotch. “Enough proof for ya?”

“What about that pose where you’re on your hands and your legs are flipped over your head?”

“I gotcha.” Sam unfolded himself then placed his hands on the ground, went up into a handstand effortlessly, and slowly bended his lower half back until his ass hit his head. He remembered to point his toes. “Like this?”

“Why did you stop?”

Sam smiled. He was gonna get to the history of the circus, but he was gonna talk about his life in the circus. That was something at least. “I’m freaked out with puppets and my boyfriend is a ventriloquist.”

“Ironic.” They laughed.

“I love him, but I can’t watch him perform. I started dating him a year before I went to college. He had just changed from a lion tamer to a puppet master and a kickass one at that.” Sam sighed. “Instead of staying in the circus I went to college so I could teach history.”

The class frowned. “But you’re so good. How did you start?”

“My father was a truck driver for Shurley’s Angelic Circus. My brother started getting into the circus right away. My dad like his job, so he stayed and didn’t care if Dean, my brother, worked the circuit.”

“What doesn’t your brother do?”

“He’s an aerialist. One of the best, actually. He does, mainly, trapeze, the aerial silks, lyra, and aerial contortion, but he can do almost all aerial acts. He used to do a lot of acrobatics with me and a few other people, but they left for bigger better things. His husband is the ringleader, former motorcyclist.” Sam shrugged. “They work hard to get where they are. Six months ago my brother and his partner had an accident during practice and fell 20 feet onto solid ground.”

The class gasped. “I heard about that in the news. Is he alright?”

“He is. He had broken his arm, leg, multiple ribs, neck and back. He also dislocated his shoulder and had a pretty serious concussion. He’s already to high flying aerial acts with his partner, better than ever.”

“Are you gonna go back to the circus?”

“I don’t know yet.” Sam shrugged.

_***( &^%$^&*()*&^%^&*()_+** _

Sam entered the building with a duffel on his back. The people Sam grew up with were busy getting ready and practicing for the show later that night.

He walked to the familiar structure that his brother was so used too. He looked up to see Dean in complete concentration. All of his focus was on Lisa. They bother swung gracefully in sync. Dean effortlessly flipped into Lisa’s arms with ease. After a few swings the two rotated in a loop around the bar, Dean was hanging upside down and Lisa was upright. Effortlessly, Dean tossed Lisa to the empty swinging bar. She caught it and landed on the platform. Dean pulled himself upright and pushed the bar to a greater swing and flipped off, hit his back on the net and bounced back to the bar and stuck the landing on the platform. “Hell Yeah!”

“I think you cut it crtty close at the end. Maybe not do so many flips to the net.” Lisa suggested.

“Instead of four, I’ll do three. Will you be happy?” Dean laughed.

Sam laughed. “Hey, Man, can that outfit  get anymore pink?”

Dean flinched. “Sammy?!”

“Get down here!”

Dean did a flip off the platform to the net. Once his bounces calmed down he hopped off to the ground and hugged his brother. “it so good to see you, man.”

“Was that the famous stunt that broke your back?”

“Kinda, we get it right 85% of the time, so the net is permanent and we removed some things and added the ending.”

“Looks great.” Sam smiled. Lisa climbed down the ladder and ran over to Sam. “Hey Lisabug.”

“What’s with the duffel?” Dean pointed.

Sam adjusted the bag. “I quit my job. I finished the school year out and left. I sold all of my useless crap and packed all my things.”

“You’re joining?!” Dean blurted out.

“Yeah, already talked with Cas and the board. I’m not performing until next season, but I’ll be training and traveling with everyone.

Dean pulled Sam into another hug. “That’s so fucking amazing. It just took you 3 years after my accident to come back to your family.”

“I know, but I’m back now…for good.”

“Does Gabe know?”

“He does. The surprise was for you, Big brother.” Sam smiled. “Now, I’m gonna go find him.”

“He’s probably with his puppets.”

Sam walked around back stage and found his boyfriend dressing his dummy for the evening. “Hey, Gabe.”

“Hold on, let me put up Michael.” Gabe opened this trunk of puppets.

“No, no, tell me about this one.” Sam sat on the trunk.

Gabe nodded. “This is Michael. Big brother to Lucifer. I got a lot of my inspiration for his personality from Dean. Just like Lucifer’s personality was based on you.”

“Thanks.” Sam chuckled and rolled his eyes. “What’s your subject matter tonight?”

“I’m going to talk about big events in life. Make jokes and goof around.” Gabe grinned. “You’re gonna be in the crowd, right?”

“Yeah, Cas got me a good seat.” Sam nodded.

“I’m proud of you, Baby.”

Sam nodded. “I think we’ve made progress.”

Gabe leaned forward and kissed his boyfriend. “I’ll see you during the show.”

_**& ^%$#%^&*&^%$#%^&*()** _

Sam was excited. He hadn’t seen his family perform since he left over 8 years ago. He seat was right beside a family of small children. He grew up entertaining people so being the odd ball at the circus by himself didn’t bother him. He was quiet with the clowns, smiled with Cas’s songs and jokes, amazed by Dean’s solo acts and partnering acts with Lisa, and then there was Gabe.

_“Gabriel, You’re a single, short, white guy in his early 30’s working at a circus and talking to a bunch of dummies…and puppets.”_

The crowd laughed and Sam smiled. The blond haired green eyed, Michael, puppet did remind him of Dean. “That’s not true, Mike. I have an amazing boyfriend out in the audience tonight.”

_“Yeah, just a boyfriend. You still have to check the singles box. Also you can’t fix being short, because you can’t work high heels.”_

Gabe fake frowned. “How about if I show you him? He’s sitting a few rows up from the middle.”

The puppet rolled his eyes, which Sam had to admit was cute and 100% Dean. _“I thought you wanted to talk about big event in life.”_

“I am. What have you done in your life?”

_“It hard to do much with a hand up my—“_

Gabe covered the dummy’s mouth. “Ok, I get it, Bud. I do have to show you a big life event that I should have done 3 years ago.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. _“You can’t go off script, Man.”_

“Shut up.” Gabe snapped. “Sam Winchester, can you make your way up here?”

 _“Why do you want to bring him up here?”_ The puppet said before Gabe set him down.

Sam stood with a confused look. Once he made it to the stage. Gabe took Sam’s hand. “Ladies, Gentlemen, and kids of all ages. Sorry, I’m not good at announcing, that’s my brother…the ringleader’s job. Today, is a big day for me. This is my boyfriend for 10 years. Three years ago, 2 fellow members of our circus family were in an aerial accident during practice. That night I was going to do something important, but didn’t get the chance.”

“What are you doing, Gabriel?”

“Samuel Winchester, you are my best friend and love of my life. Will you marry me?”

“Holy—“ Sam gasped. “Really?”

“Yes, really, now can you give me an answer so the show can go on.” Gabe smiled.

“I will marry you, yes.” Sam grinned.

The audience cheered. Sam kissed his boyfriend. Gabe whispered. “The ring is in my trailer.”

Gabe guided Sam off stage and the show continued. Sam instantly pulled Gabe into another kiss in private. “Gabriel, I love you so much.”

“I’m so proud of you. You were able to sit and talk about my puppets. They were even sitting out. I love you so fucking much, Sam Winchester.”

_******* _


End file.
